“I understand some of the hockey terminology, but when they start going off on how …

]]>Dave King sits in his apartment in Yaroslavl, Russia watching a KHL game on TV between Torpedo and Dynamo Minsk, and he’s in seventh heaven.

“I understand some of the hockey terminology, but when they start going off on how the media guys are, I get lost,” chuckled King, who just arrived to coach Yaroslavl Lokomotiv for the second time in as many years, replacing former Swiss Olympic team coach Sean Simpson, who was abruptly gassed eight games into his first season there.

King, 66, had a nice job as a coaching advisor in the desert, working for Arizona Coyotes, but it took him about five seconds to say “da” when asked if he’d return to Yaroslavl after stunningly getting the rebuilt Lokomotiv team past powerhouse Moscow Dynamo and SKA St. Petersburg, featuring superstar Ilya Kovalchuk, in the playoffs last spring.

“I hope somebody wants me at that age,” Coyotes GM Don Maloney said.

King, who was the first Canadian to coach in Russia — nine years ago in the steel town of Magnitogorsk, where Iron Mike Keenan now works as he tries to repeat as KHL champion — wasn’t ready for semi-retirement as an advisor in Phoenix.

He’d been a hero to the Lokomotiv fans last spring, when he also left a Coyotes management job, with Yaroslavl having to win their last four league games just to make the playoffs.

They stunned league-leaders Dynamo Moscow, losing the first two games then winning four of the next five in the playoffs., then knocked off SKA, who finished the season third overall in seasonal points.

When the Canadian-born Simpson, who replaced Ralph Krueger as Swiss national team coach after the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, was fired in September, King rushed back.

“I seem to be the fix there. When they called, I packed up and was on the first plane from Phoenix to Russia about five or six hours later,” said King.

He’s fully cognizant how much hockey still means to Yaroslavl, a little more than three years since the plane crash that ago that wiped out the team, which included former NHLers Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, Karlis Skrastins and Karel Rachunek, and coach Brad McCrimmon.

“That tragedy really affected that city,” King said. “There’s a huge monument in front of the rink to honour the players, and pictures of all the players on both sides of building and another monument to them inside the arena.

“This city’s really wrapped around that, and last spring, our playoff run made people happy about hockey again. We have a soccer and a basketball team in Yaroslavl, but hockey’s No. 1.”

King, head coach of the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Canadian Olympic squad, served in the NHL as head coach of the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets and as an assistant with the Montreal Canadiens.

He also travelled to coach in Hamburg, in Malmo, Sweden and went to Magnitogorsk (coaching Evgeni Malkin) in 2005-06, and the Globe and Mail’s Eric Duhatschek penned a fine book on his time there.

“There was a fascination for me to know more about Russian hockey back then, to get behind the scenes in Magnitogorsk and to do it again in Yaroslavl was just too interesting for me,” said King, a member of both the IIHF Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada.

“They have high expectations for Canadian coaches in Russia … do things the Canadian way. We think the Canada-Russia rivalry is great on that side of the table; it’s just as big over here. I know Sochi left a real sour taste in their mouths.”

King has a few very good young players on Lokomotiv, including defencemen Nikita Cherepanov and Vladislav Gavrikov, who will be playing for Russia at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Montreal and Toronto over Christmas. They could be first- or second-round NHL picks in 2015.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/10/17/dave-king-jumps-at-chance-to-return-to-russias-khl/feed/0Dave KingnhlbymattyJussi Markkanen, Patrick Thoresen and Linus Omark all going strong after their Edmonton Oilers careers endedhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/09/05/jussi-markkanen-patrick-thoresen-and-linus-omark-all-going-strong-after-their-edmonton-oilers-careers-ended/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/09/05/jussi-markkanen-patrick-thoresen-and-linus-omark-all-going-strong-after-their-edmonton-oilers-careers-ended/#commentsFri, 05 Sep 2014 10:00:04 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=206480Jussi Markkanen’s NHL career is long ways in the rearview mirror, but he continues to play high-level professional hockey. More remarkably, he’s still playing well.

Markkanen, who turned 39 in May, is coming off a triumphant return to Finland’s top …

]]>Jussi Markkanen’s NHL career is long ways in the rearview mirror, but he continues to play high-level professional hockey. More remarkably, he’s still playing well.

Markkanen, who turned 39 in May, is coming off a triumphant return to Finland’s top league. In the seven seasons since he left the NHL, the Finnish goalie has bounced around a little but mostly made his home in Switzerland, where he spent four seasons as the No. 1 goalie for Zug. For 2013-14, he signed with SaiPa, the same club where he spent many of his developmental years.

The results were spectacular. In 47 games, Markkanen posted a 0.926 save percentage and won the SM-liiga’s best goaltender award. It’s the second time in his career that Markkanen has been so honoured; the last time came in 2001, the same year the Oilers made him a fifth-round draft pick (Markkanen currently ranks fourth among drafted Oilers goalies in NHL games played, with nobody close behind him).

Markkanen is slated to play for SaiPa again in 2014-15.

Linus Omark happy to be in the KHL. Omark, the highly-skilled Swede who continually generated controversy during his time with the Oilers organization, appears to have finally settled down overseas after an uncomfortable 2013-14 campaign that saw him bounce around North America.

Expressen.se caught up with the player, and (via Google Translate, so beware) Omark told the outlet that he was very happy to be with Jokerit of the KHL.

“KHL in Finland is almost like being at home,” said Omark. “It’s perfect.”

Omark’s last best chance at an NHL job came after he was traded to Buffalo for a conditional pick midway through 2013-14; he recorded just two assists in 13 games and was ultimately cut loose by the club. He’ll make good money and doubtless put up decent points in the KHL, but barring NHL expansion (and perhaps even then) the odds of a return to North America have to be pretty low.

Patrick Thoresen is getting paid in Russia. Thoresen, who enjoyed a brief NHL career with Edmonton and the Philadelphia Flyers, is one of those players overseas who might very well be good enough to return to the majors. A solid two-way presence who struggled to score in the NHL, he’s taken off in the KHL, routinely posting exceptional numbers (he’s also been very good for Norway at the World Championships and Olympics).

He’s been rewarded accordingly. A report from VG.no (Norway’s second-largest paper; again, via Google Translate) appears to have Thoresen as the highest-paid Norwegian hockey player on the planet. He was a top-10 player in KHL salary last year and recently negotiated a new contract that includes a small raise; the outlet seems to guess that his annual salary comes in at $3.9 million USD, which is a touch more than NHL’er Mats Zuccarello ($3.5 million) will earn with the New York Rangers.

There was a time not all that long ago when Thoresen expressed interest in returning to the NHL on a one-way deal, but it seems improbable that the money on a major-league contract would even come close to what he’s making overseas.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/09/05/jussi-markkanen-patrick-thoresen-and-linus-omark-all-going-strong-after-their-edmonton-oilers-careers-ended/feed/0Image (2) Jussi Markkanen.jpg for post 66345jonwillis63Linus-Omark3Image (3) Patrick Thoresen.JPG for post 66072The Edmonton Oilers’ rookie head coach sounds completely ready for the job aheadEdmonton Oilers prospect Roman Horak, acquired in Ladi Smid deal, signs with KHLhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/12/edmonton-oilers-prospect-roman-horak-acquired-in-ladi-smid-deal-signs-with-khl/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/12/edmonton-oilers-prospect-roman-horak-acquired-in-ladi-smid-deal-signs-with-khl/#commentsMon, 12 May 2014 20:03:18 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=199758It was win one, lose one for the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Shortly after it was announced that the squad had come to terms with Anton Lander on a one-year extension — reportedly a one-way deal for $600,000, identical to …]]>It was win one, lose one for the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Shortly after it was announced that the squad had come to terms with Anton Lander on a one-year extension — reportedly a one-way deal for $600,000, identical to Mark Arcobello’s pact — news came down that forward Roman Horak is on his way to Vityaz Podolsk of the KHL.

Horak was acquired by the Oilers just 6 months ago as a key piece in the trade that sent Ladi Smid to the Flames. The teams also swapped goaltending prospects in the deal, with Laurent Brossoit coming to the Oilers’ system and Olivier Roy dispatched to the Flames’.

The Czech, 23 next week, had spent five years in North America, mostly in western Canada. That includes two years with the Chilliwack Bruins of the WHL, followed by 2+ seasons shuttling between the Flames and Abbotsford Heat. Originally a draft pick of the New York Rangers, he was swapped to the Flames in 2011 as part of the Tim Erixon deal that gained some notoriety at the time.

The trade that sent him to Edmonton has also generated some controversy. The two-for-two deal featured exactly one proven NHLer in Smid, who completed the year in Calgary and still has three years to run on the four-year, $14 MM deal he signed with the Oilers last spring. Some saw the move as something of a salary dump by new GM Craig MacTavish. Horak’s early departure will do little to dispel that notion.

The versatile 6’0, 175 pounder had a splendid season in Oklahoma City where he connected for 21-27-48, +14 in 53 games playing centre and wing, often on a line with Lander and Tyler Pitlick, yet a third player whose entry-level contract is set to expire. Some had visualized this trio to be a decent option as Oilers’ fourth line in 2014-15.

Perhaps Horak saw the likes of Lander and Arcobello as two more reasons why he was in deep to make the NHL. While both announcements came on the same day, there is nothing saying they are directly related events; indeed, the Horak-to-KHL rumours have been swirling for the last week or so.

Horak had two separate one-game call-ups to the Oilers, scoring a nice goal in the second of these, the win in the season finale over Vancouver. He departs for with 84 NHL games on his resume (6-13-19). As I understand things, Oilers will continue to hold his NHL rights, moreover their asset can continue to develop in another league without the need/risk of clearing NHL waivers. It’s a similar situation as with Teemu Hartikainen a year ago, although ultimately the Oilers decided to trade those rights.

Laurent Brossoit had a cup of coffee as Oilers’ backup in 2013-14, but saw no game action.

(UPDATE: according to CBA whiz Michael “Speeds” Speidel, Oilers still have to make a qualifying offer to Horak to retain those rights, which by my math would extend up to four years since Horak, with 80+ NHL games on his resumé, has no Group VI option. Sounds like an obvious thing for the GM to do, barring other complications. Stay tuned.)

On this side of the pond, all that now remains of the Smid deal is Laurent Brossoit. The organization is bullish on the former Edmonton Oil King, who has been ripping it up in the ECHL this season. After posting 6 shutouts in the regular season, Brossoit has added 3 more in the playoffs, posting a 1.75 goals against average and .934 save percentage as the Bakersfield Condors have rolled through a pair of five-game playoff series wins. They are set to face Flames affiliate Alaska Aces — LB’s old club and Roy’s current one — in the Western Conference Finals.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/05/12/edmonton-oilers-prospect-roman-horak-acquired-in-ladi-smid-deal-signs-with-khl/feed/0Roman+Horak+Vancouver+Canucks+v+Edmonton+Oilers+7kB8_uKxnSPlbrucemccurdyLaurent Brossoit had a cup of coffee as Oilers' backup in 2013-14, but saw no game action. The Edmonton Oilers’ rookie head coach sounds completely ready for the job aheadThis ‘n’ that: Moscow Dynamo would be likely landing spot for Alex Ovechkin if he chose to bolt for KHLhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/20/this-n-that-moscow-dynamo-would-be-likely-landing-spot-for-alex-ovechkin-if-he-chose-to-bolt-for-khl/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/20/this-n-that-moscow-dynamo-would-be-likely-landing-spot-for-alex-ovechkin-if-he-chose-to-bolt-for-khl/#commentsMon, 21 Apr 2014 03:30:13 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=198212- If Alex Ovechkin ever thought of hiking off to the KHL down the road, it could land with the Moscow Dynamo, for whom he’s an adviser. The club is owned by billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, who used to spar at …]]>- If Alex Ovechkin ever thought of hiking off to the KHL down the road, it could land with the Moscow Dynamo, for whom he’s an adviser. The club is owned by billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, who used to spar at judo with Russian president Vladimir Putin when they were kids.

– Longtime Edmonton Oilers orthopedic specialist Dr. David Reid’s hopes of being in the owner’s box at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby were recently dashed when one of the favourites, Honor Code, was ruled out of the Derby because of a small tear in the right hind upper suspensory. Dr. Reid was in a group of owners of Honor Code, who had just gotten over an ankle problem.

– Kudos to ex-Oilers goalie Jeff Deslauriers for winning the AHL’s top goalie award with Eric Harzell in Wilkes-Barre, Pittsburgh’s farm team. Deslauriers played 40 games for the Pens’ affiliate with a 2.58 goals-against average.

– Ryan Murray, playing on the first defence pairing for the Columbus Blue Jackets, doesn’t have a ‘wow’ factor, but team president John Davidson says “he’s not flashy, but he makes these little plays all night long. He’s not physical per se, but he doesn’t lose battles. His hockey IQ is of the highest nature.”

– I’m going to miss TSN’s Ray Ferraro between the benches next NHL season now that Sportsnet’s got the broadcast rights. He’s the best in the business. I keep thinking he should be on an NHL management-team train, with his smarts. Ferraro tells a nice story about why Pavel Datsyuk is who he is. “(Son) Landon was at his first Detroit camp and he got on the same team as Pav,” said Ferraro, who played almost 1100 NHL games. “The way the Wings work it is they break into three groups and two play a game and the other works out in the gym and practices. Landon was taking off his equipment one day after not playing a game and he sees Pav doing the same, then putting on his gym stuff. Pav doesn’t look at Landon as he walks by, but Landon sees him and immediately puts on his gym stuff too. That’s the definition of a pro.”

– Now that ex-Oilers goalie Jim Corsi is no longer the Buffalo Sabes’ goalie teacher after 16 years there, maybe he should get on the web and do tutorials on his Corsi rating (shots directed at the opposing net compared to attempts on your own cage). Feeling in Buffalo is Arturs Irbe, who was Latvia’s goalie coach when Sabres coach Ted Nolan was the Latvian Olympic head man, will get Corsi’s job. Irbe had a gig as the Washington Capitals’ goalie coach three years ago.

– This may be one and done for ex-Oilers good soldier/defenceman Nick Schultz in Columbus. He hasn’t been able to crack their top six since the trade there. He’ll be a UFA this summer

– Anton Belov is returning to Russia to play with a team in turmoil in St. Petersburg. They fired ex-NHL defenceman Alexei Kasatonov as GM, head coach Jukka Jalonen, who helmed the Finnish 2010 Olympic squad and his assistant. Slava Bykov, the former Russian national team coach, is now SKA St. Petersburg bench boss.

– There was a feeling Pavel Bure would be GM of the new KHL team in Sochi, the Leopards, but he’s just the the team president. Too much work being GM. Bure can stay at his place in Florida and commute. How will they draw? “Nobody’s going to go to the games. It’s a resort, busier in the summer than winter. They’ve got the building, so they need a team,” said one KHL observer.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/20/this-n-that-moscow-dynamo-would-be-likely-landing-spot-for-alex-ovechkin-if-he-chose-to-bolt-for-khl/feed/0Alex Ovechkin2nhlbymattyAnton Belov parts ways with Edmonton Oilers, returns to KHLhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/16/anton-belov-parts-ways-with-edmonton-oilers-returns-to-khl/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/16/anton-belov-parts-ways-with-edmonton-oilers-returns-to-khl/#commentsWed, 16 Apr 2014 14:03:11 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=197964The Anton Belov experiment is officially over after just one NHL season, according to Dmitry Chesnokov, a well-connected contributor to Puck Daddy and TSN.

Belov spent the 2013-14 season in Edmonton, where he was lost in a pack of middling …

]]>The Anton Belov experiment is officially over after just one NHL season, according to Dmitry Chesnokov, a well-connected contributor to Puck Daddy and TSN.

Belov spent the 2013-14 season in Edmonton, where he was lost in a pack of middling defenceman on what was among the weakest blueline groups in the NHL. While he was hardly the primary problem, neither was he the solution.

The 6’4, 218-pound rearguard was a reach signing by Oilers GM Craig MacTavish last summer, plucked from the KHL after a breakout season in the Russian-based league. At the time, he expressed his desire to push his game to the next level, stating in an interview with R-Sport:

“I want to grow professionally. I had the opportunity of signing a multi-year contract with Omsk this summer and provide for myself and my family for years to come, but I believe that these things can relax an athlete. When you know you have a contract, that the money is flowing, then this feeling of calm appears, of satisfaction, and this is what stops your development.”

How much he developed against NHL competition is an open question. He struggled to find a regular spot in the rotation, cycling from left side to right and from second pairing to third. Even as the all-purpose rearguard was named to the host Russian team at the Sochi Olympics, he found himself cooling his heels in the press box for extended stretches with last-place Edmonton. In all he missed 25 games, a small handful of them to an early-season injury, the rest to “coach’s decision”.

While his plus size was a welcome addition, Belov’s skating could best be described as “plodding”, and he appeared to have difficulty adapting to the quicker decision-making required on the smaller North American ice. Coming off an impressive offensive season in the K, his output in Edmonton was disappointing, just 1-6-7 in 57 games. His lone goal was a memorable one, tying the score against Pittsburgh Penguins in the dying minutes of a home game Oilers ultimately won in overtime. Otherwise, his heavy shot was a weapon that largely remained in its holster, although in fairness he did shoot in bad luck with a few posts along the way.

Belov does have very nice hands for a big man, and his outlet passing was one of his strengths. His on-ice shots metrics were among the best on the team, albeit with sheltered zone starts against weak competition. He did show an aptitude for playing either left or right defence, and slotted in with a huge variety of partners over the course of the season, playing over an hour of even-strength ice time with six different rearguards. He had his best success with Jeff Petry, but lost his spot in that pairing when Petry was tabbed to mentor Martin Marincin in the second half of the season.

So, an interesting experiment, but ultimately a failed one. Belov’s signing with SKA St. Petersburg so soon after the completion of his NHL season suggests it was his own decision to not pursue the NHL dream any further, having not taken much time to examine other options. That he is locked into a new four-year deal means he is unlikely to return to haunt the Oilers, Jan Hejda-style, for years to come, but will quickly slip off the radar and into the realm of distant memory.

Here in Edmonton, MacTavish can cross off the name of Anton Belov from his list of options and continue the pursuit of that rare commodity — a big, robust veteran who can move the puck. It’s not like they grow on trees on this side of the pond either.

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2014/04/16/anton-belov-parts-ways-with-edmonton-oilers-returns-to-khl/feed/0Anton+Belov+Vancouver+Canucks+v+Edmonton+Oilers+3fE3NP-05kElbrucemccurdyBelov tweetThe Edmonton Oilers’ rookie head coach sounds completely ready for the job aheadThis ‘n’ that: Quiet start to NHL defector Ilya Kovalchuk’s Russian campaignhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/10/15/this-n-that-quiet-start-to-nhl-defector-ilya-kovalchuks-russian-campaign/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/10/15/this-n-that-quiet-start-to-nhl-defector-ilya-kovalchuks-russian-campaign/#commentsTue, 15 Oct 2013 06:30:29 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=181109- Ilya Kovalchuk is not tearing up the KHL (14 points, 17 games for St. Petersburg). He’s not in top 10 in scoring. Forwards Ryan Vesce and Matt Murley, with five career goals between them (Zagreb), have more points, but …]]>- Ilya Kovalchuk is not tearing up the KHL (14 points, 17 games for St. Petersburg). He’s not in top 10 in scoring. Forwards Ryan Vesce and Matt Murley, with five career goals between them (Zagreb), have more points, but they aren’t making $10 million a year like the former New Jersey Devils sniper, who walked away from the NHL in the off-season.

– Former Edmonton Oilers farmhand Troy Bodie, the 14th last player taken in the 2003 draft (at No. 278), is now with the Maple Leafs and is married to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment boss Tim Leiweke’s daughter. Bodie has told his father-in-law to leave the personnel decisions to coach Randy Carlyle.

– San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson hopes Raffi Torres (knee surgery) will be ready after the Olympics, so late in February. They could get winger Martin Havlat (coming off double hernia surgery) back this week.

– Colorado Avalanche goalie coach Francois Allaire and Patrick Roy both suggested to starter Semyon Varlamov, who struggled last season, that he hold his catching mitt higher. It was too low. So far, the tip looks great. Varlamov is the best goalie in the league.

– Mike Komisarek has played only one of six games for the Carolina Hurricanes, a team with an average defence. Obviously, his career isn’t back on the rails after he was banished to the minors by the Maple Leafs.

– Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog wisely said no thanks when Bruins forward Milan Lucic was schoolyard bullying him last week, knowing he’d take a licking, and I didn’t see anybody trying to mess with Lucic, but I suppose on March 21 when Boston’s in Denver, somebody will try and box Lucic’s ears. Why would Lucic fight six-foot-six Patrick Bordeleau though?

– Now we’re seeing why the Oilers tried hard to move ahead of Calgary to get Carolina’s fifth overall pick to take centre Sean Monahan. They love their choice, the abrasive D-man Darnell Nurse at No. 7, but needed Monahan’s 6’3”, 202-pound size more. Calgary got him at No. 6.

– The Mexican-American, lightning-fast Matt Nieto, a San Jose Sharks’ first-round pick (47th, 2011 out of Boston University), looks like a player alongside Little Joe Pavelski. Nieto grew up in a tough area of Long Beach and played for the Los Angeles Selects as a youngster with the Anaheim Ducks’ Emerson Etem and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Beau Bennett.

– That Magnus Paajarvi-for-David Perron trade is looking more and more like a salary dump by the St. Louis Blues, with Paajarvi scratched for the first four Blues games (he can’t beat out Jaden Schwartz or Vladimir Tarasenko) and Perron playing 21 minutes a night with the Edmonton Oilers. St. Louis did get a second-round draft out of the deal, too.

– Edmonton native Tim Tookey, fourth in career points in the AHL (974), was recently inducted into the Hershey Bears Hall of Fame. Consider the AHL Bears are the seventh longest running hockey franchise in North America, well over 5,000 games.

– Flames head coach Bob Hartley, who used to work a 9-to-5 factory job before he got seriously into coaching, laughed off criticism of young Sven Baertschi by team president Brian Burke. “One day, I broke 15 windshields and no one booed. Next day, I packed 2,000 without a scratch and no one cheered. You decide where you want to be,” Hartley said.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/10/15/this-n-that-quiet-start-to-nhl-defector-ilya-kovalchuks-russian-campaign/feed/0Ilya KovalchuknhlbymattyThis ‘n’ that: Rexall Place v2.0? Not so fast. New Edmonton Oilers arena could sport Rogers namehttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/10/07/this-n-that-rexall-place-v2-0-not-so-fast-new-edmonton-oilers-arena-could-sport-rogers-name/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/10/07/this-n-that-rexall-place-v2-0-not-so-fast-new-edmonton-oilers-arena-could-sport-rogers-name/#commentsMon, 07 Oct 2013 09:30:39 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=180445- I know the Edmonton Oilers say they have lots of irons in the fire about a name for the new rink, but I’d be shocked if it’s not named Rogers Centre or Rogers Palace with all the money Rogers …]]>- I know the Edmonton Oilers say they have lots of irons in the fire about a name for the new rink, but I’d be shocked if it’s not named Rogers Centre or Rogers Palace with all the money Rogers Communications just laid on the Oilers for promotional stuff. I also hear the company might like a sports talk radio station in Edmonton.

– How good is the Anaheim Ducks’ 20-year-old goalie John Gibson, who is a candidate to play for the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey squad in Sochi, Russia? “He’s Grant Fuhr,” said former Ducks goalie coach Pete Peeters. Gilbson played for the U.S. at the world championship this past spring. He’s currently playing with Norfolk in the American Hockey League.

– Teemu Selanne’s farewell tour might not bring him to every NHL arena. He took Saturday off at Minnesota, but played Sunday in Winnipeg, where the 43-year-old’s NHL career started. It looks as though he’s been told he can’t play in back-to-back games. The Ducks’ first visit to Edmonton this season is in April.

– The Washington Capitals gave up 18-year-old first-round forward Filip Forsberg to Nashville to get winger Martin Erat with Brooks Laich (groin) injured last season, but Erat is on the fourth line with a salary-cap hit of $4.5 million the next two years.

– Ex-Oilers forward Magnus Paajarvi wasn’t helped when Brenden Morrow signed with the St. Louis Blues. Paajarvi has been a healthy scratch twice. Jaden Schwartz took his third-line spot.

– Jari Kurri will be the general manager of Helsinki Jokerit when the club enters the Kontinental Hockey League next season. The Edmonton Oilers’ great is currently general manager of Finland’s Olympic team for Sochi.

– Tyler Benson, who helped Edmonton’s South Side Athletic Club to the Western Canadian bantam AAA title last spring and then was the first pick in the Western Hockey League’s bantam draft, is playing midget in Kelowna, B.C., at the Pursuit of Excellence Academy. Sources say Benson would have been one of Giants head coach Don Hay’s top six forwards this year, but 15 year-olds can play only five WHL games.

– The Buffalo Sabres have a captain at home (Thomas Vanek) and one on the road (Steve Ott), which makes little sense. “I think it’s weird,” said former Sabre Jason Pominville, now a member of the Minnesota Wild. Both Vanek and Ott are unrestricted free agents next summer.

– Danny Briere wants to be known as Daniel now that he’s playing for the Montreal Canadiens. He thought Daniel sounded too much like Danielle in the U.S. (with Buffalo and Philadelphia). He’s also got an accent grave over the e in Briere on his Habs’ nameplate.

Craig MacTavish always liked him when he was the coach — I remember MacT working one-on-one with the Russian defenceman one day at an optional practice at Sherwood Park’s Millennium …

]]>Should we be surprised that Denis Grebeshkov is back?

No.

Craig MacTavish always liked him when he was the coach — I remember MacT working one-on-one with the Russian defenceman one day at an optional practice at Sherwood Park’s Millennium Place believing Grebeshkov had tons of talent if he could just rein in his riverboat gambler tendencies with a more conservative first pass — and now he’s the general manager.

He didn’t trade the Russian defenceman to Nashville for a second-round draft pick in 2010, where he promptly took a puck in the groin and needed surgery on a crushed testicle, before leaving the Predators at season’s end. That was the work of former GM Steve Tambellini, who wanted to get something for Grebeshkov before his contract ran out.

Grebeshkov, who has played the last three years in the KHL (SKA St. Petersburg and Khanty-Mansiyuk Yugra), signed here for only one year, but it’s reportedly a one-way contract.

He is a puck-moving defenceman — slick plays, punctuated by the odd oops-where-did-that-come-from pass — and he’s likely not returning to North America to play in OKCity in the AHL. He can play in the top six on the Oilers blueline, for sure, in the third pairing as a second powerplay point option. If I’m Corey Potter, also a puck-mover and a PP guy, I’m a little nervous even if he’s a better price-point at $775,000 on the last year of a two-year deal.

I can’t see Grebeshkov and Potter on the same Oilers’ defence. Grebeshkov was moved to Nashville with his $3.125 million salary running out in March of 2010, in a season when Ladislav Smid and Sheldon Souray were hurt and Tom Gilbert was in a deep funk on the back-end. So was Grebeshkov but in the 2008-2009 season he had 39 points, was plus 12 and 26 of his 39 points were five-on-five. He can play and he’s only 29.

Something has to give on the current Oilers blueline depth chart. They have way too many bodies and only seven NHL spots unless new coach Dallas Eakins wants eight D, something the Oilers went through last year carrying Theo Peckham and only playing him four games because they were worried they would lose him on waivers.

Smid is starting a four-year, $3.5 million contract as their best shutdown guy. MacTavish loves Petry so he will be in one of the two top pairings. Ference, signed as a free-agent will get a letter on his jersey this season (A, maybe the C because he’s a leader who has a Cup ring in Boston) and Justin Schultz, their No. 1 powerplay point guy, will play 20 plus minutes a night

Nick Schultz, in the last year of a deal paying him $3.5 million might be trade bait if he’s a third-pairing guy. That’s a lot of dough for a fifth or sixth D-man, but he’s got an A on his jersey and is a leader, so maybe they live with his high salary.

Potter was in and out of the lineup last year — former coach Ralph Krueger liked his shot and played him in a rotation with Ryan Whitney and Mark Fistric. Potter got into 33 games, Whitney, UFA, 34 and Fistric, also UFA and gaining some interest from Vancouver Canucks, 25.

I can’t see why Oscar Klefbom can’t be a third pairing guy here, breaking into the the NHL right away. I know he’s coming off shoulder surgery but he’s the Oilers top prospect, a kid who was playing big minutes in the Swedish Elite League. MacTavish is very, very high on Klefbom. The first time he scouted him for the Oilers, he watched one shift, how he moved the puck and was completely sold. He could be a Ryan McDonagh type NHL defenceman.

MacTavish also outbid several teams on Russian free-agent Anton Belov. He’s on a two-way deal, though for $70,000 and a base salary of $925,000 to play in the NHL. He might start in the AHL but they didn’t bring him over if they didn’t think he could be an NHL defender at some time. Same goes for ex Dallas defender Philip Larsen, who played 32 games for the Stars last seas0n. He’s on the small side and his play was up and down last season, but he’s no stocking stuffer in the Shawn Horcoff trade.

Grebeshkov will be playing here in the third pairing unless his game has dropped off horribly in Russia. To me that makes Potter trade bait.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/18/edmonton-oilers-defenceman-corey-potters-days-look-numbered-with-signing-of-denis-grebeshkov/feed/1Denis GrebeshkovnhlbymattyDoes Ilya Kovalchuk’s departure for KHL alter the landscape for Oilers’ stable of young Russians?http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/17/does-ilya-kovalchuks-departure-for-khl-alter-the-landscape-for-oilers-stable-of-young-russians/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/17/does-ilya-kovalchuks-departure-for-khl-alter-the-landscape-for-oilers-stable-of-young-russians/#commentsWed, 17 Jul 2013 13:00:52 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=171500Ilya Kovalchuk has a well-deserved reputation as a game-changer, but his latest dangle may have taken that to a whole new level. Last week the sniper “retired” from the NHL at the tender age of 30, walking away from his …]]>Ilya Kovalchuk has a well-deserved reputation as a game-changer, but his latest dangle may have taken that to a whole new level. Last week the sniper “retired” from the NHL at the tender age of 30, walking away from his celebrated and controversial 15-year, $100 million contract just three years in. Days later, he signed a four-year pact to play with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. Financial terms were not disclosed; presumably the contract bears a massive annual average value, but its total price tag would surely come up well short of the $77 million Kovy left on the table in New Jersey.

While some will characterize Kovalchuk as a mercenary who took the money and ran, the fact is that he left the NHL just as his biggest money years were about to kick in. After two years at a relatively modest $6 MM, Kovalchuk received about the same amount in 2013, as the $11 MM he was due was prorated to under 60% courtesy the lockout — an aggravation that may have soured him on the NHL while allowing him the opportunity to play in St. Petersburg.

Clearly he enjoyed the experience. The sniper was due to collect an eight-figure sum for each of the next five years; instead, he’s chosen to follow his heart and return home to play in the country he has represented a staggering 14 times in international play (three Olympics, nine (!) World Championships, a World Cup and a World Juniors). With this move, he’s assured to represent Russia once again at the Sochi Olympics, whether the NHL ever gets its act together on the matter or not. (No doubt the official foot-dragging on that matter only added to Kovalchuk’s disillusionment with the North American scene.)

Make no mistake, the KHL’s gain is the NHL’s loss. Despite lingering misgivings about Kovalchuk on this side of the pond — former Hockey Night in Canada producer Steve Lansky referred to him as “another first-round under-achiever” the other day for pete’s sake — it’s on the record that since being drafted by Atlanta Thrashers with the top pick back in 2001 Kovy has scored more goals than any other NHLer. The last player to score more than Kovalchuk’s 417 goals through age 29 was Jaromir Jagr — coincidentally, the last Euro superstar who made ripples by “defecting” to the KHL in his 30s. Jagr returned to the NHL, and Kovalchuk may eventually as well, but his departure leaves a hole.

At one level, that’s New Jersey Devils’ concern. But the continuing emergence of the KHL as a viable alternative, especially but not only for Russian-born players, is an issue for all North American clubs. For one thing, the Devils will visit every NHL city in 2013-14, and Kovalchuk’s electricity will be missed. But teams also have concerns on their own rosters. Ask the Winnipeg Jets, who just lost the services of Alex Burmistrov three years into his promising career.

Here in Edmonton, no fewer than five players who ended the 2013 season somewhere within the Oilers’ extended organization have taken their talents to the KHL in 2013-14. A couple of the departures are inconsequential: it hardly matters that Eric Belanger wound up in Yekaterinburg after being bought out, nor that farmhand Jonathan Cheechoo is similarly KHL-bound, but they are cases in point that Russia is a viable alternative for more than just European-trained players. A trio of Oilers prospects has also headed east, including Teemu Hartikainen who has been on the cusp of making the big team the past couple of seasons, along with Finnish goalie Niko Hovinen. Particularly interesting is the return of teenager Daniil Zharkov to the motherland, this after spending two years in the CHL with another year of eligibility remaining.

Oilers have drafted four Russians in the past two years, with one, Nail Yakupov, having committed to a three-year entry-level contract and successfully made the jump to the NHL. The other three, including 2013 drafts Bogdan Yakimov and Anton Slepyshev along with Zharkov, will be playing pro hockey in Russia next season.

By no means is that all a bad thing. Developmentally speaking, Zharkov may well do better from a first year of pro than a third year of junior; for darn sure, he will be paid better. But he’s another exception to that supposed rule that Russian kids who come over before their draft year have shown their long-term commitment to North America. (See also: Alex Radulov, the former CHL Player of the Year now being paid a reported nine million bucks to play in Russia. Burmistrov is another.) It’s an interesting, and clearly viable, option at their disposal — just as the CHL was in their developmental years.

Yakimov and Slepyshev, meanwhile, will stay on the path they’ve been all along, which is as it should be. No reason to rush these kids, and there’s no reason it should be any different for Russian kids than for, say, Swedish kids like Anton Lander and Oscar Klefbom. Those guys played a couple more years in Sweden after being drafted, then made the move to North America at 20. Will the Russians do the same? The question is moot for now, and merely waits to be asked when the time comes a couple of years hence.

Worth noting that there is one player headed the other way, perhaps a significant one in the form of defenceman Anton Belov who has left a comfortable situation in Russia to take a shot at the best league in the world. So it’s not a one-way street by any means, it’s a fluid profession and players move around. But the KHL seems to be gaining in popularity as a destination.

One guy who’s pretty wired in to pro hockey in both Russia and North America is Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo Sports. When posed the question on TSN’s That’s Hockey about a possible ripple effect from the Kovalchuk move, Chesnokov had an interesting response:

I think the battleground is shifting towards younger players. The KHL wants the young stars — starlets — to stay. It’s not about the big stars, the big stars will always play in the big league, and that is the NHL. It is about the players like Burmistrov, it is about players like Evgeny Kuznetsov who they want to stay.

Zharkov, Yakimov and Slepyshev are definitely more starlet than star at this stage of their nascent careers, but they are players of interest to fans of the Oilers, who invested three middling draft picks, all in the #83-91 range, to obtain their North American rights. Based on talent (and size!), they would appear to be excellent gambles, but it seems there is always that one extra question hanging like the Sword of Damocles over Russian prospects.

And brace yourself, Oilers fans: similar questions are apt to come of Yakupov about five minutes after he and the Oilers can legally negotiate on an extension. Not wishing to be an alarmist, just a realist. Justified or not, those questions will be asked, at times breathlessly, and the names of Radulov and Burmistrov will be invoked. As will that of Ilya Kovalchuk, a former #1 overall draft pick from Russia.

Ilya Kovalchuk pots yet another wicked snipe, this one in overtime of the gold medal game of the 2008 World Championships as Russia stuns host Canada, 5-4. Sounds like those Russian announcers appreciate Kovy’s talents just fine.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/17/does-ilya-kovalchuks-departure-for-khl-alter-the-landscape-for-oilers-stable-of-young-russians/feed/0rsz_zharkovbrucemccurdyThe Edmonton Oilers’ rookie head coach sounds completely ready for the job aheadEric Belanger moving to KHL after Edmonton Oilers buyouthttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/15/eric-belanger-moving-to-khl-after-edmonton-oilers-buyout/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/15/eric-belanger-moving-to-khl-after-edmonton-oilers-buyout/#commentsTue, 16 Jul 2013 03:07:00 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=171477Eric Belanger, who struggled in his two years as an Edmonton Oilers’ centre to put up any meaningful stats except in the face-off circle, has signed a one-year contract to play in Yekaterinburg in the KHL.

Yekaterinberg used to be …

]]>Eric Belanger, who struggled in his two years as an Edmonton Oilers’ centre to put up any meaningful stats except in the face-off circle, has signed a one-year contract to play in Yekaterinburg in the KHL.

Yekaterinberg used to be called Sverdlovsk and it’s the hometown of former Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and onetime NHL centre Alexei Yashin, in case you’re wondering . It’s the fourth largest city in Russia with 1.4 million people. Toronto Maple Leafs’ winger Joffrey Lupul played there during the lockout.

Belanger had four goals in 104 Oiler games and 19 points. He was a 55 percent face-off guy but injuries (broken foot, gr0in) hurt him last year during the lockout and the Oilers chose after the season not to bring him back for a third year. They bought him out at 3/rds of his $1.25 million salary over two years and his cap number of $1.75 million won’t count against the cap becauase he was an amnesty buyout.

The Oilers signed former Phoenix centre Boyd Gordon to a three-year $9 million deal July 5 and he’ll either be the third or fourth-line centre this season. Belanger was signed as a third-liner but with Shawn Horcoff moving back in the pecking order to third-line duty, Belanger was ostensibly the fourth-line pivot.

ON THE BENCH–It’s expected Oilers’ winger Nail Yakupov will turn in his No. 64 for his favoured No. 10, the number Horcoff wore before he was traded to Dallas…Newcomer forward David Perron has said he’ll wear 57 here with Anton Lander now wearing 51…Magnus Paajarvi, traded to St. Louis for Perron, says he’ll wear 56. That was the year his dad Gunnar Svensson was born. He was 91 here but Vlad Tarasenko has that number in St. Louis.